Chika is a medical school student at the University of Toronto Medical School. She graduated with a Bachelor of Health Science from McMaster University.
Chika is also a poet, writer and an advocate for gender and racial diversity in medicine. She helped grow a program called the BSAP, Black Students application process. Students still have to meet the same MCAT requirement for grades and they can also write an essay explaining why they chose the BSAP program. Chika was the only student to identify as black in her first year of medical school among a class of 259 at the University of Toronto in 2016. After the BSAP was introduced, there are now 15 black students in the current first-year class.
In this episode we talk about balancing her creative passion for poetry and writing with medicine, systemic bias and discrimination in the medical industry, working hard without burning out and much more.
Full interview and video: https://atila.ca/blog/tomiwa/u-of-t-medical-school-mcat-for-black-students-poetry-and-womens-rights-chika-stacy-oriuwa-atila-tv-011
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0m74ZmCPgjvp5WGOMg3P9C
Listen on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-atila-podcast/id1440531021
Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_Hldc4qDg
U of T Medical School Black Student Application Program (BSAP): http://applymd.utoronto.ca/black-student-application-program
Articles by Chika:
https://www.flare.com/how-i-made-it/chika-stacy-oriuwa/
https://www.flare.com/identity/black-physicians-in-canada/
Atila Tech’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atilatech/